Small Talk
by CSHL
Summary: There were three times Han Solo and Leia Organa talked Small Talk. A trilogy of short stories taking place in missing moments from the movies.
1. Chapter 1

**Small Talk: A Han Solo & Leia Organa Fanfiction**

There were three times Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa talked small talk.

The first time small talk was experienced was on the icy planet of Hoth. Han strutted through the freshly carved ice halls of the rebel base in search of the Princess, not that she wanted to be found. She was probably hiding anyway, considering their most recent fight had left her crying. He felt bad, he really did, and that's why Han was looking for her. He knew that when she got that upset she normally turned to alcohol and weeping in a corner by her lonely self.

It wasn't as if the smuggler had been watching her the first time he noticed this hobby of hers, in fact, he had hardly talked with her. It had been at the party after the medal ceremony back on Yavin, and he couldn't care less about the snotty princess that wouldn't stop insulting him. Sure, she had some wit to her, and he had to admit she was beautiful, but like he had said straight off, he was just in it for the money. That was the truth, until he found her missing from the party and made the decision to find her.

Considering the fact that her entire home planet had just been blown away by the Empire along with all of her friends and family, she couldn't be doing very well. The kid was still at the party when he left, drinking some ale with a few of his newly found friends, and Chewie was off working on the Falcon, so Han knew he wouldn't be missed.

It took a few minutes to find her, but it wasn't too hard, considering not many people sat in dark rooms that smelled of strong wine and sounded of weeping. He figured the door would be locked, but he tried anyway, surprised to find that it was open. Inside he found the princess, still in her white dress from the Ceremony and with her hair creeping out of its delicate braid. She looked up at the light and quickly tried to wipe away her tears, hoping to look more presentable, not that it worked.

"What do you want?" she had asked quickly, hoping to rid herself of the smuggler's presence.

"Well your Worshipfulness, I just happened to be walking by when I heard some crying coming from the door, not to mention the strong smell of alcohol you left in the hallway" he said while quietly sitting down next to her and putting a comforting arm around her shoulder.

Leia, never one for physical contact of any sort, pushed him away within a moment. "Don't touch me."

"Hey, I was only trying to help" he said in a hurt voice. "Plus, you look like you could use some help right about now."

"No, I think I can manage just fine on my own." Leia tried to stand, but fell back to her knees, landing squarely over Han's body. Her head settled upon his chest, and she made no effort to move anymore. He wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair to comfort her.

"Princess, might I ask what you were doing in here drinking all by yourself?" he asked some while later.

"I was trying to make myself feel better" came the small answer.

"With alcohol? Listen Princess, if that's what you were trying to do, I'll tell you right now, that doesn't work."

"Well it seems to be working for me."

It was at that moment that Han had first realized she had problems with grief. From that point on he was no longer in this thing for the money. No, he was in it for her now too. Too deeply involved to leave.

After that he had tried to think of ways to help her. It started mostly as just watching her carefully, and whenever she strayed away and began her weeping, he would come a while later to comfort her. But overtime it evolved into more. When he left on supply runs he would bring back fresh food, small gifts and any sort of memorabilia he could find of Alderaan. Sometimes he would invite her for dinner, always making sure Chewie or Luke would come too. He thought about suggesting therapy, but he knew that wouldn't do any good…she would hate that kind of thing.

And now here he was, even after three years of comforting her, he had insulted her, and now she wasn't running away from her nightmares of Alderaan. No, she was running away from him.

* * *

><p>Leia reached up onto the shelf in her quarters on the Rebel Base, which were as cold as ever. Stretching to reach the small box she grabbed it and quickly jumped off the chair she had used to reach so high up.<p>

She couldn't believe the nerve of that man…that nerfherder. Just when everything had been going well he had to go off and insult her. What it was that had upset her she still wasn't sure. Maybe it was just that moving to a new base had stressed her out, and she hadn't felt like fighting anymore.

So instead of keeping up with his insults like she normally did, Leia had run off to her current location. As she opened the box she said with a smirk "Well at least he won't have to worry about me getting drunk." She knew that after Yavin he had watched her, kept track of her, and everytime she had begun to cry for her home planet, he would stride in, take her in his arms and comfort her. She wasn't going to deny that it felt good, it felt right.

When he held her on those nights she felt as if nothing in the universe mattered anymore other than the feeling of his strong arms around her and the warmth of his body against hers. It was nice to know that even in her darkest hour someone would be there by her side…even if that someone was the nerfherder named Han Solo.

Now, as she looked into the box she realized that most of its contents had been from Han. This was her entire world, the box holding the few possessions she had left.

There was a picture Luke had given her, of Han, Leia and himself sometime after Yavin. They were actually smiling for once, not fighting, not worried about an upcoming battle. Next there was a wine bottle, one Han had saved for her. He had found it in his personal stores, a bottle of Alderannian wine, and a very fine one at that. They had indulged in the bottle over dinner about a year and a half ago with Luke and Chewie. After dinner Han had walked her back to her quarters, and he gave her the empty bottle to keep, as a memory of both that night and her home planet.

She set the bottle down on the table and moved for the next item. It was a small stuffed animal Han had given her for her birthday a few months ago. A while back she had told him during one of their 'comfort sessions' about a similar stuffed animal she had when she was young, and he had found one almost identical to it for her. How he remembered she would never know.

As she cleaned out the box she came across other pictures and items, and eventually reached the bottom. Just as she was about to start putting things back in she heard a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" she called out from her place on the chair.

"Leia, it's me" came the response. She knew instantly who it was. It was Han, but the strange thing was that he had never called her by her name before. It had always been 'sweetheart' or 'Princess' or some less flattering nickname he gave her.

"What do you want?" she yelled back, but she got up from the chair and headed towards the door.

A response came back from Han, "Look, Leia. I'm sorry, for whatever it was I said. I didn't mean to hurt you." There it was again, her actual name…and an apology. She had reached the door, but stood still in front of it, quietly. A few moments later another "Leia" came from the other side of the door.

She opened it quickly and looked into his eyes. "Han."

"Leia, are you alright?" he asked simply, as if she were hurt or sick.

"No, I'm not 'alright' Han." She turned from the door and headed back toward the chair on the other side of the room. Han followed her in and closed the door before sitting in the chair opposite her.

He picked up the picture Luke had given her from after Yavin. "Hey, I remember this day. That was a great day if I do say so myself," he said, trying to cheer the Princess up.

"Yeah, I guess it was" she said quietly.

He sighed. "Leia, what did I say? I didn't mean to hurt you. You know that right?"

"I don't know what you said. I can't even figure out what I'm upset about" Leia responded angrily. She pounded her fist on the table before getting up and moving to her bed a few feet away. "But I know you didn't try to hurt me. How could you have, if I don't even know what I'm angry about."

Han got up and moved next to her, their knees just barely touching. Leia had started to cry by this point. "Hey, calm down." He moved his hand to her face, brushing a tear from her cheek. "It's going to be ok."

"It's never going to be ok Han. It's war. I've lost everything." The tears came more quickly now.

"Everything? I don't think so. Look at this stuff," he pointed to the items still scattered on the table. "If you've lost everything than what is sitting here. What about me and Luke and Chewie. We may not be much, but it's better than nothing, right?"

Leia laughed a bit, her crying starting to stop. "I suppose you're right. But what about everything I have lost? Those things matter too Han."

"Well of course they do Leia, they are always going to matter." He sat back down, a bit closer to her this time. Leia instantly turned her body so it was facing him more directly and she wrapped her arms around him, and he followed suit. They sat there on Leia's bed, her quietly crying against his shirt, his cheek resting against the top of her head.

After a while, Leia was ready to let go, and he let go instantly, but took her small hand within his own larger one. "Leia, look at me." She followed his orders and looked into his eyes. "I want you to remember something. No matter what happens, I'll always be there for you. It doesn't matter if I'm halfway across the galaxy or right here next to you, I'll be here for you." And with that, he slid a small bracelet into her hands, kissed her forehead and walked to the door.

"Han."

"Yeah Princess?"

"Sleep well."

"You too, Leia. You too." And with that he opened the door and was gone.

Leia looked back at her hand, and the bracelet on it. It was a simple bracelet, just a circular metal bracelet with words carved on the inside. 'You're nothing short of my everything.'

**Just a note for the entire story: I don't own Star Wars, as much as I wish I owned Han Solo. =)**


	2. Chapter 2

The second time Han Solo and Leia Organa talked small talk was on-board the Millennium Falcon, en route to Cloud City.

After the escape from the ice of Hoth, and the hiding, and the broken hyperdrive and the third escape from the Imperials, the three beings and one droid were all somewhat happy, well, all but the droid, who for the fifth time was turned off.

Leia, Han and Chewie were currently sitting in the main hold, discussing their supplies, final sleeping arrangements and repairs. As far as supplies went, they didn't exactly have much fresh food, so it came to be that one meal a day would consist of fresh food and anything else would consist of the rations, of which they had plenty. Thankfully for the crew though, Kaffe was in fully supply.

The sleeping arrangements took some time to work out. After Han's stunt in the circulatory bay earlier in the day, Leia was not looking forward to this particular conversation. Chewie would sleep in his own quarters, since he was the only one that could fit comfortably in his accommodations, which left Han and Leia.

Han first made the snide comment that they could just share his bed, which was, in fact, more than big enough for the both of them. Of course, Leia wouldn't hear of it. So instead, he offered her his bed and decided to just sleep in the small crew quarters. That way Leia could have some private space for herself. She tried to protest, as she didn't want to kick him out of his own bed, but he insisted, and silently, she was happy.

Finally, the meeting ended with a list of repairs that would need to be made to the ever-broken Falcon. A few had been made while hiding, but the hyperdrive was still broken, along with many other things. Thankfully they could fix most of those themselves. And so the three started out to work.

Chewie took up work in the circulatory bay where Leia had been working earlier, while Han began work in the floor of the main hold, with Leia helping him by handing him parts and tools, a job she had taken up several times before, even when not stuck out in deep space at sub-light level.

"Hydrospanner" Han's voice said from in the floor. Leia grabbed the tool, a few feet away and then swung her legs over the side of the hole and handed it to him as he came up. He looked at her for a moment.

"Something wrong Captain? This is a hydrospanner, is it not?" asked Leia jokingly. For some strange reason, it felt as if there was peace between the two of them. 'Who knew I just had to kiss him to get him to shut up' thought Leia.

"No, nothing. Nothing's wrong…I just…thanks Leia" Han stuttered out. But something caught Leia's attention. He had used her name…again. The last time he had used that was back in the circulatory bay, but before that it was that night when he had given her the bracelet, which was always on her wrist.

As Han bent back into the hole, Leia quickly removed the bracelet and looked at the words engraved on the inside, 'You're nothing short of my everything.' When he had first given her the bracelet she had wondered how he had been able to come up with the saying without knowing what she was upset about. How had the discussion that night matched so perfectly with the quote. Luke would probably say something about it being the force, but Leia's thoughts were interrupted as Han coughed.

"So Sweetheart, you like that bracelet I got you, huh?"

"Yes. I really do Han. Where did you find it?" she asked.

"Sorry Princess, but if I told you I'd have to kill you, and you know I certainly don't want to do that."

A smile crossed both of their faces. "Is that so, flyboy?"

Han, still in the hole and half Leia's height because of it, even as she was sitting, moved closer to her. "Yes your Worshipfulness, it is so."

Leia parted her legs without even knowing it, allowing Han to move between them and come up to her body. Han's voice was a whisper now, "And what are you going to do about it?"

"I have some ideas in mind captain, although I'm pretty sure you wouldn't like any of them."

"Oh, if they are anything like my ideas then I'm sure I'll love them Princess," and with that he reached up and pulled her head down to his and kissed her.

Unlike the kiss earlier in the day, this one was forceful. Leia had to admit that she enjoyed the first kiss, and was quite glad that 3P0 was not around to ruin this one. Han's arms moved from her head down her body, one resting just to her side and the other gently rubbing her hip, sending a tingling force throughout her body.

Suddenly Han pulled away, as if he was suddenly forbidden to touch her. "Sorry Leia, I'm sorry" he said before going back to work.

She wasn't sure what had just happened, but she certainly was confused. She had honestly been enjoying the kiss, and Han pulling away was not in his character, not at all. He was the kind of guy that would start a kiss and make it go somewhere, not stop it suddenly. She figured her best plan of action was to just ask him what the problem was.

"Han?" Within seconds he popped back up from the hole.

"Yes your highness? Could you hand me that part sitting there," he pointed to a part sitting a few inches from Leia.

She handed him the part and then noticed he was going to go back into the hole without letting her ask the question. "Han, wait." He looked back up at her. "Why did you stop like that?"

"Stop what?" he asked as if nothing had been stopped.

"You know exactly what Nerfherder."

"No, sorry, I don't your worship. Please enlighten me."

Of course he was going to play this game. He was going to avoid the subject she was trying to get at. So in the end, the best thing to do here was to just hit the nail on the head. He wouldn't be expecting that.

"The Kiss Han, the kiss. Why did you stop kissing me?" She was pretty happy with the surprised look on his face when she actually said what he thought she wasn't going to.

"Well your Highness, I didn't want to ruin what we have now. I don't want to fight with you when we are stuck in close confines for the next 40 days." He went back down to continue working.

Now Leia was really confused. First he suddenly stopped the kiss, and now he was going on about how he stopped because he didn't want to ruin their relationship the way it was now? Did that mean he didn't want to go back to fighting or he didn't want to go further. She figured it was most likely the first reason and the not the second, but still. What the heck was he talking about?

* * *

><p>As Han entered the crew bunks for the night he noticed how small they really were. A while back they had converted it to a smaller room to give Chewie a bit bigger space, and it was smaller than Han had remembered.<p>

As he began to rummage around in the quarters for the blankets, he realized he didn't want to leave things the way he did with Leia. After the kiss they had shared after lunch she had been distant, and even ate her dinner in his cabin. Or was it her cabin now? Could it be their cabin?

The thought continued to run through his head as he traveled towards the cabin. He figured she would still be awake, but when he got to the door he heard the sound of snoring coming from the other side, and instead continued on to the gallery to get a quick drink before heading back to the crew cabin.

Not long after sitting down with his Kaffe, Han heard a scream, and not just any scream. This one was bone-chilling, and he knew just who it had come from. Within a moment he was up from his seat and running towards the cabin. He didn't even think as he rushed through the door.

Leia was still asleep, twisting as her nightmare consumed her. As much as he had kept an eye out for her, he never thought her nightmares got this bad. He knew she had them, because she often looked tired and would sometimes even fall asleep at her desk, but he didn't watch her closely enough to see how bad they really had gotten.

Han shook Leia slightly and said forcefully, "Leia, wake up. Wake up, it's not real, it's just a nightmare." Her eyes shot open.

"Oh Han!" screamed Leia, and she instantly clung to the smuggler, wrapping her arms around him and holding him close. He slowly did the same until she was sitting half on his lap.

Leia started crying and Han stroked her hair. It reminded him of their times in her cabin, when he would find her awake and either drunk or completely depressed. But this time it was different too. She wasn't trying to put on a brave face, she was literally frightened. "It's ok Leia, it's over." She began to calm.

As she slowly began to stop crying, Han seriously thought about asking her what had happened in her dream, but knew it would probably just scare her more. Suddenly her heard a small voice, Leia's voice, ask him a question.

"Will you stay here tonight, just lay here with me?"

He was shocked by the question. He always joked about sleeping in the same bed as the Princess, at first for his own selfish reasons, and then because he didn't want anyone else to hurt her and most recently because he actually wanted to just sleep with her. Sleep with her laying in his arms, but he never thought she would legitimately be asking him to stay with her.

"Are you sure that's what you want Princess?"

"Yes, I'm positive" she said as she looked up at Han. "You know those times when you found me in my quarters, like when you gave me that bracelet?" He nodded yes. "Well whenever you came like that I'd fall asleep either before your left or right after you left, and I never had nightmares. But every time you weren't there I did. So I just feel like…"

"…like if I'm here they won't come back" he finished her sentence. He had never been told something like that before, and he knew that he needed her just as much as she needed him. He pushed a stray hair behind her ear. "Of course I'll stay here Leia, but only if you promise not to get all wild" he joked.

"Han, I don't think it's me we'll have to worry about!"

"Wait, I didn't knew Chewie was joining us too!" laughed Han, which made Leia to laugh too. He moved to take off his boots and vest before lying down, but Leia stopped him.

"Han, if you want to change into something more comfy I'm fine with that. I can't image that outfit is very comfortable." She was right, the heavy material he had on because of Hoth wasn't very comfortable, so it would be nice to sleep in his actual pajamas, just a simple pair of sweatpants normally. He figured a shirt would be a good idea though.

"Alright Princess, I'll just be a minute. Wow, first you asking me to sleep with you, and now you have me taking my clothes off!" Han said as he got up from the bed and headed to the dresser on the other side of the room. He pulled out his favorite pair of sweatpants and a black tee he had kept from his time in the Navy before heading to the fresher to change, leaving a smirking Leia behind.

When he came back out and threw his dirty clothing on the chair he noticed the Princess was asleep again. He figured he shouldn't wake her, so he slipped into bed next to her, pulled the comforter over them and wrapped his arms around her. She instantly moved her head to his chest and used him as a pillow, since his chest was apparently better than one, and wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you Han. Goodnight" she whispered.

"Goodnight Princess. Sleep well" he whispered back.


	3. Chapter 3

The third time Han Solo and Leia Organa talked small talk was on the small forest moon of Endor. It was just after the battle that killed the Emperor and Darth Vader, destroyed the second death star and crushed the Empire. A party was being held jointly by the Rebel Alliance and the Ewoks that lived on the moon.

All over the large party fires had been lit, music played brightly, stories were told, dances shared and plenty of Ale in supply. As the party began to wind down Han Solo shared yet another dance with the Princess, his princess. After the carbonate he had been very worried about what sort of relationship she had with Luke, who turned out to be her brother. Gods was that screwed up, but there was something he knew she wasn't telling her. It was bothering her too, he could tell.

The Princess had celebrated as she normally would, but had stayed close to either Han or Luke the entire night, especially Han. Of course he was fine with this. He wanted to be as close to her as possible, but she was unusually quiet the entire time. As the dance they were currently a part of wound down she took her head off his chest and looked up at him.

"Han, we need to talk." Here it was. Whatever had been bothering her all night was finally going to come out.

"Alright."

"But not here. Can we go somewhere else?"

"Sure Leia." Han pulled her off the make-shift dance area and headed for their hut. The Ewoks had been supportive of Leia, giving her an entire home to share with Han. There wasn't really a bed, just a bunch of cushions, but it was still comfy enough. Once to the top of the ladder leading to the hut Han helped Leia up.

He sat down on the outside porch, with his back to the wall. He patted the spot between his legs for her to sit down and she moved instantly to do so. He gently wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close. Both looked off to those still dancing around the fire, the faint music still heard.

"So Princess, what did you want to talk about" Han said, breaking their silence.

"There's something you need to know Han. But first" she turned around," you need to know that I truly love you, with all my heart, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to wake up like we did on the way to Bespin, in each other's arms, but if there is any sort of future for us you need to know this."

Han could tell she was really concerned. He was somewhat relieved at the fact that she said she truly loved him, and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. "It's ok Leia, you can tell me."

She looked away back towards the fires, "So you know how Luke is my brother?" she asked him, and he responded with a yes. "Well he found something out about our real father too.

"That's great Leia!" he exclaimed, but he could tell she wasn't excited. "But there's more, isnt'there?"

"There always is more, right Han? You see, we both met my real father, several times." Leia stopped there, and tried to catch her breath.

"Leia, if you don't want to talk about it, I can wait…"

"No Han, you need to know now" she interrupted. "Han, my real father was a man named Anakin Skywalker. He was a slave from Tatooine."

"That's the kid that won the podrace all those years ago, right?"

"I would suppose. I don't know much about him when he was younger though. Anyway, he trained to be a Jedi under the watch of Obi-Wan Kenobi, that man that you and Luke came with when you rescued me from the death star. But something happened, and he turned to the dark side…" she paused again. "Han. My father was…he was Darth Vader." She instantly turned to cry into his shirt.

Han was once again, shocked. So many times this woman shocked him, but never like this. She had just told him that the man that tortured her, destroyed her planet, tortured him, threw him in Carbonate and almost killed Luke was her father, if he was even a man. He was probably more machine than man. But no matter who her father was, it didn't change who she was.

"Leia, look at me." Just as she had done on Hoth all those nights ago, she turned her head to look in his eyes. "I don't care who your father is. He could have been the emperor for all I care, or worse, but it doesn't change who you are. Your father was Bail Organa, a man I wish I had known. A man I wish I could have thanked for raising such a beautiful young woman."

"You really mean that Han?"

"Of course I do Leia. There is nothing that could change how much I love you, unless that thing makes me love you more. But even if he is your father, he did one thing right. No matter how much torture we went through, he caused me to find you, and that's the one thing I'll always be thankful for." Leia began to cry lightly again as she settled her head back against Han's chest. He placed a light kiss on her head as he heard her whisper.

"Thank you Han. Thank you for being my everything."

**Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed this short story. Please review and stuff. =) Oh, and let me know if you would like to see more short stories like this.**

**Have a Happy Easter everyone!**


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